Planned Parenthood + a new wave of feminism

I have been reading all of the news about Planned Parenthood and finding the situation very difficult to process. Yes, I am shocked. Yes, outraged. Yes, disgusted, angry, frustrated . . . all of that and more.

It is so easy to blame. To name-call. To meet negativity with double-down negativity.

But we all know the fruitlessness of meeting anger with anger.

It’s time for a new page, and new direction, and a new paradigm.

A new face of feminism.

What does that look like?

It’s a world where women stand together, not in anger, not in despair, not in mutual victimization, but in radiant, embodied, turned on sisterhood.

Women who have connected to the depth and breadth of their own divinity, who own their sensuality and take the revolutionary step of loving themselves for no reason.

Women who are plugged into their core source energy are lit up. Aware. Inclusive of other women. They stand in sisterhood for both a woman’s light, and her darkness; because they are on close loving terms with their own.

Right now, the patriarchy profits from women who do not know and own their own value. When our souls are filled with self-hatred, rather than self-love, not only do we sink our own ships, but we take other women down with us, and politicians can step in and roll back our hard won civil rights.

I am sure that many of you had the same experience I did, a few weeks ago, when Cecile Richards, the President of Planned Parenthood, faced the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform defending the right of women to receive medical attention from planned parenthood. Republican lawmakers questioned why Planned Parenthood should continue to receive federal funding if many Americans don’t agree with abortions.

Cecile was grace under fire for over five hours as disrespectful and misogynist lawmakers attacked her and failed to listen to her, using this forum to further their agenda to chip away at a woman’s right to make her own choices about her reproductive health.

How do we find ourselves in this spot? Again?

How do we find ourselves in the spot where a woman’s right to take care of and control her own body have been attacked and diminished?

I thought this conversation was resolved on January 22, 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision which recognized that the constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s right to make her own personal medical decisions — including the decision to have an abortion without interference from politicians. (Prior to that, ⅙ of all pregnancy-related deaths were a result of illegal abortions.)

But how is it possible that certain people are attempting to roll back the basic human rights that we earned over 40 years ago? Why can’t women retain the ground that we gained in our efforts towards equality?

It is so easy to throw daggers of blame in oh-so-many different directions. Personally, I do not know whether to weep or rage or plot vengeance. And worse – I want it all to go away.

I can barely stand to be in my skin as I listen to the recordings of Cecile Richards, responding intelligently and elegantly after hours of attacks at this hearing. I think back to her mother, the incredible Ann Richards, and wonder if we have made any strides at all, as a community of women in this country.

Why do some groups seem able to gain strength over time, but women seem to first gain and then, lose strength over time?

Every fall, the students in my Creation Course make a pilgrimage to Brooklyn. We visit the Judy Chicago exhibit in the Elizabeth Sackler Wing of the Brooklyn Museum.

Yes, we go to see The Dinner Party. But more than that, we go to stand in a room that pays tribute to the 1,038 women from history on whose shoulders we stand. Who fought battles on our behalf that we know nothing about because the history of women has been vacuumed from American History and Global History in classrooms around the world.

Why is it a problem that our daughters will know more about George Washington than Susan B Anthony? Or Sojourner Truth? Because it means that every woman has to spend so much of her precious time, here on earth, fighting to find her purpose, her voice, her legacy.

As Gerda Lerner says, “Men develop ideas and systems of explanation by absorbing past knowledge and critiquing and superseding it. Women, ignorant of their own history do not know what women before them had thought and taught. So generation after generation they (struggle) for insights others had already had before them, (resulting in) the constant reinventing of the wheel.”

If we are constantly reinventing the wheel, we cannot roll the wheel forward.

We do not know that there have been 5,000 years of women fighting for freedom, celebrating the sensual, opening doors and breaking through ceilings since we first lost our Goddess and our power. We have no connection to where we were, who we are, and how we got here. We do not realize that each step forward that a woman takes, on this planet, is a triumph for each woman on this planet.

And because we do not ever see or experience the tapestry of which we are each a thread, we feel alone. Not to mention suspicious of and competitive with other women.

Which leaves us vulnerable to hostile takeovers. It wasn’t just because women were afraid of Bill Cosby that none of the 30+ women stepped forward all of those years. They were afraid of being ostracized at disparaged by both the patriarchal legal system, and by other women. How do we know that? Well, that is exactly what happened when the few women who were assaulted, did try to step forward, these past 40 years.

Thus far, the galvanization of women only comes from mutual victimization. When it gets really bad, we lurch forward, haltingly, and join forces, only to roll back, as soon as the crisis has passed. This is what we are watching now, as we lose ground, week by week, in the right to have dominion over our own bodies. (A question that men do not even have to consider.)

It’s time for a new wave of feminism. Where we as women stand together, united in conspiring for our greatness, not divided and pitted against each other, doomed to recreate the wheel and lose power slowly and surely.

Today, let us each celebrate, not only ourselves, but the accomplishment of women in this world today like Cecile Richards, or women in our lineage, or women in history.

Let us become conscious of the women on whose shoulders we stand, the women whose threads in our shared tapestry only make us stronger and more conscious of our innate strength, power and irrevocable sisterhood.

Join me in the comments, to celebrate and honor a woman who has inspired you, in a personal way, or a global way. Who is she? How has she taken you higher? Where has her courage, her inner poetry, her bad-assery, ignited yours?

… My family lineage is matriarchal — the last man we have given birth to was an older brother of my grandmother in about 1890 — since him 20 women have been born, over 4 generations.

My heroines have included my grandmother, Cornelia Goldsmith — the first person to license day care centers in the City of New York, and the first Executive Secretary of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Also her cousin, Elizabeth Goldsmith Hill, who rescued me from my home when I was six, and let me stay with her at her beach-front home in Naples, Florida — she saved my life on so many levels. Also Martha Roder, immigrant-refugee from the border of Poland and Germany just prior to World War II, who sustained my heart and my life through my childhood with her love, kindness, and depth of her relationship with plants and the soil — this relationship has led and sustained me in unimaginable ways. Also Olga Smyth, recently deceased at age 101, Director of High Valley School, who opened doorways of possibility for entirely new and different ways of being. Also Debbie Valentine Smith and Iona Marsaa Teeguarden, teachers of Jin Shin Do acupressure, who opened a next set of doors to the means and the possibility of healing. and yes, you, Regena, you are on this list as well, as is Nicole Daedone. Oh, and also Angeles Juarez Blanco — the buck stops with her. There is no turning back. And finally, Rachel and Elizabeth. They are spectacular! Beautiful, powerful, intelligent — well-educated, competent, caring — faithful, good, and true. I have done for them what I could, as all of these others did for me what they could. I have faith and confidence in their ability to sort it all out and find and experience and grow through their next steps along the winding path ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity to remember, name, call up and call in these beautiful, warm, loving hearts and souls. My life exists in consequence of their generosity, and any good that I may do is attributable only to them. They surround me. I live and breathe each day in gratitude for their gifts.

Mama Gena – YOU are the woman who inspires me (and supports me!) This is the strongest blog post I’ve ever read from you – truly powerful, and so true. I so believe you are taking us in the right direction. Thank you!

Hell, YES! For even more insight as to the ongoing war on women, take a look at “The Illusionists”- a recent film by a talented, angry, visionary Italian woman who exposes the profit motive in making sure that women world-wide continue to hate our bodies. Watching an ad in a multi-screen sports bar with my BF today, we learned of the latest abomination in the cosmetics industry, air brush foundation application, I was struck by the surreal notion that the airbrushed “models” of every magazine from Playboy to Good Housekeeping have now brought their 2-dimensional lies to 3-D life. Now , we don’t just have to a emulate impossible ideals photographically, we can erase ourselves in the mirror every morning, noon and night. My BF’s comment, bless his little male mind, was ” I don’t want to fuck any of them – you’d go to bed with the “After” and wake up with the “Before”. Ya, he keeps me in stitches. And who is forcing us to buy these messages, Goddesses? We are! Vote with your wallet, and your brain. Spend money on women’s causes, candidacies, and careers. Screw Madison Avenue and assert your right not to buy the message or the poisons. Stop mutilating yourselves with Spanx, surgery and a boatload of Retin-A. Buy sex toys instead. Go commando. Live, love, laugh, don’t diet your ass off . Feel free to quote me.

Regena, Thanks for this. I’ve been reading and listening and it’s another Republican attack on women as a smokescreen for the larger issues that are screaming for our attention. Planned Parenthood has done great work for years, so I just made a donation. While on the phone with the fundraiser, she guided me to this You Tube video by a Democratic congressman who used his questions to Cecile Richards to challenge the Republicans on the very issues they are choosing to whitewash and ignore. The first five minutes are worth the price of admission:). Thanks, MG! BBSG Karenhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxIYZuaY8KE

I love this beautiful message, and want to thank you. Sadly I do not personally know any such woman, don’t even know where to look – and yes it feels very alone to know anyone that kicks ass anyway and I yearn to know such women. Currently I want to launch myself as Life Coach for businesses that have troubles, but it’s a new approach and looks at developing the person inside the business, as I have worked in many companies and coached ‘unofficially’ from the inside out and it’s improved each team. This message today, is fertiliser to find that woman near me, and to go for it with support. T h a n k Y o u xoxo

It seems it is always women taking up for birth control, abortion, etc. Men benefit immensely by both. A woman carries the bulk of the risk for having sex, overall does not climax easily from vaginal intercourse – so what’s up with women? What’s up with men? Why do we as women stand alone when it takes two to create a pregnancy crises? It’s like men say “I’m getting what I want and too bad for you with your pregnancy problem and your trauma of abortion”. Why do we put up with this from men? Have your man contribute to Planned Parenthood not just you. Educate him.

The truth is in the small details of each woman’s journey. I am grateful for how planned parenthood helped me out of a shameful pregnancy due to a date-rape situation when I was 17 yrs. old & needed secret help, separate from my catholic community. The heart-center of Planned Parenthood is good. The government & profit centered involvement corrupts and takes advantage of young women in desperate situations. SHAME on THEM!!!

Thank you Regena for a terrific article. Very thought provoking! Interesting to read all the posts! I’m standing in the neutral ground although I applaud planned parenthood for many necessary healthcare initiatives they create on a daily basis! May we stand tall for each other for any injustices! In love and light and forgiveness!! SG hummingbird

Mama Gena, you might remember me from a trip to Ohio and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame many years ago. We had such a good time and your talk inspired so many women that evening. 🙂 Thank you for this call to action on Planned Parenthood. Thank you for making the tie back from your work and passion to politics. As we expand ourselves and our personal power, the status quo will fight harder to maintain itself and to push us backwards. We must remember that the personal is political … And the political is personal. And we must expand ourselves and our rights on both levels.

I love one sister’s suggestion of choosing Planned Parenthood for general OB/Gyn services. Great idea!! I will also do this.

In recent years, I have been inspired by the strong women of India. Their struggles and triumphs shine a light on our history in the West, the gains we have made and how far we still have to go.

In particular, the work of Shilo Shiv Suleman has been an inspiration for me. In the wake of the horrific Delhi rape of Dec. 2012, she rejected the fear mongering of the media and culture at large. She put out a call for women to create art on the subject of fearlessness. She created the Fearless Collective, a group of artists that work with community organizations and local women to create murals with messages of empowerment to inspire public conversations about women and gender in a positive way.

Her work is stirring the inner passions of women across Southeast Asia and inspiring them to embrace more of life. Although the the tools are different, the aims are much the same as your work here in the U.S.

I am the Southeast Regional Director for the National Organization for Women. I have been working with my feminist sisters and brothers for human rights for Women, the LGBT people, and People of Color for the last ~25 years.

It is with a tear in my eye that I say thank you. Thank you for leading women into recognizing their strengths. Thank you for helping women recognize the vast array of history that is absent in school books. Thank you for spreading the power women have and the strength in numbers. Thank you for this letter that came to me from a Sister Goddess that I love and admire at the perfect time for me to see it with an open heart.

I admire Hillary Clinton. She has fought battle after battle. She has done the work she signed up for but went above and beyond expectations to carry the feminist flag for us all. Now, she is fighting to bring us to the helm where women will have the ability to have the ultimate impact. She has put her life on the line and has exposed herself to the scrutiny that very few people will ever go through. She continues to represent the best, smartest that we can present.

I currently lead a feminist advocacy organization and usually think of that work (“the fights”) as separate from the personal motivation/inspiration I get from your daily emails. But I couldn’t agree with you more about the stellar job Cecile Richards did standing up for our common cause, and how important it is for us all to stand together as sisters. Thanks for your post.

Oh I am so happy to hear your thoughts on this topic. I keep falling in to a rave about it, I rip up hours in wheel re-invention fury and then rally on, in deep and sacred pleasure, doing the work I woke up to in Mastery. The women who inspire me are each and every one of my Sister Goddesses who have woken up to the extraordinary beauty of womanhood and begun to understand our birthright in Mastery. I claim Terry Tempest Williams as galvanizing force in my life, as a creative woman on fire for real life lived awake to this real world. And, I stand-not so much on the shoulders of, but sit in the laps of my elders, shoulder to shoulder with my sisters, my mentors, my teachers, my daughters, my students, my Little Sisters in Mastery, my Inner Circlets, the other Bigs, all the ways I have interacted in sacred circle with other women, I stand with them, dancing for our future. xoxoS

Thank you Mama G and your team. You put into words the oppression I FEEL and in doing so free me. I’ve been working for almost 20 years to inspire western women into farming so we take back control of our masculinised food systems. We are the keepers of nutritional wisdom but we have forgotten this. I do this by writing novels. My first novel was so fresh it sparked a whole genre of contemporary rural women’s fiction. But what did the industry label the genre? Not farm feminism but rural romance?! Erk! I fought that label for so long but you Mama have taught me to romance myself!!!!! And to love not fight and that makes us all oh so powerful. I stand beside you sister and will write your vision into the pages of my novels for more women to come! Keep going! You have hit the G spot!! Love you all babes. Xxx

I stand on the strong shoulders of Sheila Kitzinger, who spent her beautiful life working — successfully– to restore women’s self-determination: in how we give birth, how we can fully open to our sexuality, how we can create loving relationships without losing our own souls, how we can facilitate our own power and the power of the universal feminine, and how we can connect with our sisters everywhere. And on the strong shoulders of Genevieve, my incredible and wild holistic health practitioner (in her spare time, she dances with fire fans)! She gave me back my own body by teaching me the self-care techniques of Mayan Massage — and has done the same for hundreds of other women. Not until I was wholly in my body again was I able to start tapping into the power of pleasure and the gifts of women’s wisdom. And on the strong shoulders of Banoo, intuitive and compassionate teacher of Kundalini yoga, who has spent the majority of her 77 years guiding women (and men) to draw joy and power from our inner light by embracing our whole bodies, our whole hearts, and our whole souls. These three people indirectly but surely led me to you, Mama Gena, and now I’m standing on your strong shoulders too, and thinking of how I might help other women to stand on mine.

(What scares me silly sometimes is the “attack energy.” Being attacked by anger and controlled by fear.) I stand for my embodiment of truth and self love. For being in my power and owning my body and the decisions I make about my body! Thanks for the inspiration. There are two sides to every story and to this Planned Parenthood Story. And both of these sides hold a powerful position and voice. What I have learned as a healer is that the ability to hold neutral ground in the face of conflict can radically shift the atmosphere. I am working on holding a place of peace believing that this will be resolved with love. I believe in sisterhood….The kind that is supportive and loving, non-judgmental and advice free. Thank You Mama Gena for stirring it up and sharing your truth!! I see us all holding the light…and let me tell you it took me a LOOOONGGG time to get to this place 🙂 Its magic….beyond our pain and suffering a place where women support each other with unconditional love.

Hi Goddesses and Mama Gena! This post is super fantastic! I wanted to respond by saying that among the many women who inspire me is my mother. Her virtues are too many to name and so does her bad assery defy language. On the 21st of October, the town she and Iive in, through our city council, is making a public statement in support of Planned Parenthood. Situated in the heart of the midwest, our little city has had problems over the past months with protestors flocking to planned parenthood with signs depicting mutilated new born babies, harrassing women who go in to use Planned Parenthood’s services. So, my mother, after walking past the protestors to make her $100 donation to PP, decided that the supporters of Planned Parenthood needed to come out en masse to celebrate in the most fun and funny way possible the place that gave her access to reproductive health care all during her young adulthood. She’s spent the past week making costumes so her performer friends in our town can dress up as huge birth control packets, perscription bottles, boobs (repping the free breast exams), vaccination syringes, std tests (yes, someone will be dressed as a urine sample), and condoms! We’re all dressing up to stand in front of the city hall building, to sing and dance a song she wrote about Planned Parenthood and to – rather than hate on the people trying to take away our rights – scream our love for PP to the heavens!!! It’s going to be really fun.

Another way that I have started to celebrate and draw inspiration from the women of the world is through a project that my dear friend Eliza Simpson created, which I have been helping co-produce. Her project is called “The Motherline Story Project.” It is based on a pagan ritual where women go back along their motherline and look for places in their herstory that are fuzzy or painful. Once they find these places, they look for the stories of the woman involved, and once they find the story, they tell the story aloud to the women in the group, thus releasing the bad energy and bringing their ancestresses stories into the world. Eliza got a group of women together to tell the stories of our motherline. Only instead of just telling them from our point of view, she had us act them, embodying the women whose stories we were telling to tell their stories in their voices. We put on a workshop performance, and the result was 50 minutes of total magic. It was electrifying to be a part of this storytelling.

Eliza and I have been working on the Motherline Podcast.. where you can here the stories we’ve told in the workshop and during nights of togetherness and storytelling. Below is the link, and I hope you’ll listen and love it as much as I do! It’s only 12 minutes long. More episodes to come.

Thanks for all your inspiration and belief in all the women of the world. We are so much more extraordinary than we give ourselves credit for! Here’s to shaking off the patriarchy and living our inner Goddess! Yaaaay!

Thank you for this invitation to celebrate women! I stand with you and lift you up Mama Gena!

I am most inspired by audacious women who defy convention, go outside the boundaries of what’s expected of them and live their raw, honest truth. Lee Miller, who is model turned war correspondent and surrealist photographer in the 30s and 40s. Frida Kahlo for being Frida. Anais Nin for writing so poetically and honestly about the internal rawness of being a woman. Then there is Georgia O’Keefe who lived by her own rules, painted from her soul and gave so much to her community around her. There are so many more!

I want to see more of them and hear more of them. I want to acknowledge and live from a place of gratitude for the journey my ancestors made so that I could be here changing the legacy of my own lineage.

As a woman I find discussions like these about women’s rights fascinating. But, as an anthropologist I find myself cringingb. Part of the history about women that isn’t a part of this discussion- -and never has been that I’ve witnessed- – is that woman is a role that is different depending on the culture and historical time period. It is inaccurate to assume that all women have lacked any rights anywhere at any time before America today. Women in matriarchal and egalitarian cultures have always had rights — yesterday, today and tomorrow. It is in patriarchal cultures where women can struggle for rights, but even there you will find women in some patriarchal cultures with rights rivaling or exceeding some men in the culture.

Part of the erasure of women’s rights through time in America has been based on this lack of knowledge about the lives of women cross-culturally. This needs to be a part of the discussion too. It helps undermine the argument that it is impossible, and can never happen anywhere, for women to be treated with respect and dignity in any culture. It acknowledges, rather than negates, the lives of people who have lived, and do live, in cultures where the feminine is respected.

For me, the problem is different and bigger…. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is not yet part of the United States Constitution. That both men and women have the power to vote to add it to the Constitution – and have had the power since the Amendment was written in 1923 – and have not done so suggests to me the problem is bigger than the issue Mama Gena raised today. I see the issues with Planned Parenthood and with the ERA as symptoms of the problem. I don’t know what that problem is. Whatever it is, it feels pretty insidious to me. Maybe it’s just that people like to be angry. So much for staying in your Pleasure….

Hey Mama: I join you in sadness regarding the low level of engagement represented by the hearing clips you linked to. When I look at the work you are doing, and in truth, the amazing work of so many women, it’s stunning to think that reproduction still has such power to define us as women. It makes me think of how the conversation around gay folk was reduced to one of sexuality and so gay folk became easy scapegoats for the culture’s fear of sex. Women, in being defined by their reproduction, have been indirectly given the power to threaten others’ sense of existential significance, and so also have to bear the burden of that projection and resulting need by others to control it by controlling women. I don’t want to get too heady about it, but saddling folks with primal fears does a number on anyone’s ability to lead an authentic, self-determined life. What to do about it? Continue to lead self-determined lives just as you so ably champion Mama, commiserate with others’ existential fears for what they are, and not allow ourselves to either carry or be defined by them. Thanks Mama and everyone here for the work we all do to live outside the box.

Gently and sweetly this week, as a result of the exibit The Dinner Table, I decieed for every male we celebrate a holiday for- which is every holiday, my newsletter is going to be about the powerful woman/ women behind them. Just this Monday I wrote and celebrated Queen Isabella of Spain who funded Christipher Columbus’s voyage.

Thanks for adding your powerful voice to take a stand for Planned Parenthood. A sign during the rally said, “Thanks to Planned Parenthood I have never needed an abortion.” Empowering women with education to make their own choices for their own reproductive health seems so obvious to many of us. But recent events suggest not everyone gets it!! Let’s enjoy life, but let’s not fall asleep to what’s happening in the world. Thank you for shedding light on this and fueling a new powerful wave of feminism.

I am absolutely appalled by your message on Planned Parenthood. Next time you want to use your power of your speaking platform to make political statements, I suggest you do the proper research to learn the FACTS.

The government is NOT trying to outlaw abortion. They are choosing to give other organizations that support women’s needs, just like many of the services that Planned Parenthood does, but they are choosing to not fund Planned Parent Hood since the release of their admission of “SELLING the body parts” of the aborted babies, unbeknownst to the women who have had late term abortions (sometime at even 8 months of pregnancy). The babies that are aborted are kept alive as long as possible after the abortion so they can “HARVEST AND SELL” as many organs as possible. This is absolutely wrong, immortal and disgusting. I don’t mind paying taxes to support women’s organizations that pay for the types of services that Planned Parenthood offers (like birth control, STD testing, family planning, and even abortions) but I certainly DO NOT want a single penny of mine going to Planned Parenthood, where they secretly harvest and sell off the pieces of the fetus. As it seems you don’t know the facts, I suggest you do a little research before you abuse your power to suggest everyone on your mailing list should be outraged.

I am so disappointed in Mama Gena for sending such a low, disheartening political email. If there’s anything I am disgusted by, it is the fact that Mama Gena and her team would stoop this low without even knowing the facts about the debate issues and laws and not having a concern about babies, even in the slightest.

I am not sure if you are sending this because you are personally friends with Cecile Richards or a just a strong supporter of selling off baby parts for money, but if you plan on sending another single email about politics, I ask that you remove me from your mailing list. By the way, Cecile didn’t respond to many of the questions and since her organization receives more federal money that other women’s organizations, don’t you find it appropriate to question what they are using the money for? The government has every right to ask what they are doing with OUR tax money. Did you even watch Cecile being questioned? You are misusing your speaking power. Cecile Richards would not even answer many of the questions about the harvesting and selling off of baby body parts. Is this someone you think we should all look up to her for her “accomplishment”? If so, I am even more disappointed in Mama Gena for having such low standards for human beings and for using power to do the right things.

As mentioned, if you plan on sending more political emails, remove me from your list.

Cindy~ I’m curious… how do you think you writing what you wrote, here in this forum on Mama Gena’s Web site, is different from what Mama Gena did – sending out an e-mail to her list of people who chose to be added to her list? Also, if you are “absolutely appalled,” why not just remove your name right now rather than risk Mama Gena sending more “political statements” that you are “absolutely appalled” by?

Thank you for speaking your truth here, Cindy. There’s so much work to do in this world, and Sisterhood is the only answer. I know we’re all doing our best to create that. Sending love to you.

ps – Our desire is to take you higher and serve, with every email that lands in your inbox. If it doesn’t, you can always unsubscribe at the bottom of any email you receive from us. We wish you the very best, always.

Cindy I was denied a breast exam by Planned Parenthood because I was 54 years old they told me I was too old. I had several other people who were in my age group call or go in and ask for the same thing each one was denied. All of us have a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 56 for them to tell me that I was too old was more than appalling. They offered to refer me out and told me I might possibly get a discount. I really wish mama Gina would have done research

I too see the situation as not black or white. When the government & big business get involved in selling baby parts for profit- IT IS WRONG. Let’s clean up the dirty profit centered politics and not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Do you have any proof that PPH is doing what you claim they’re selling. If you can’t present us proof from your own experience. Then shut the fuvk up. Show me your proof. Then maybe someone who really cares will hear . Until then , stop jurking offf your mouth.

Mama gena thank you for bringing us, wonderful goddesses, together and inspiring is to have strength as individuals but also and most importantly as a whole force 🙂 the woman that inspired me ever since I was an adolescent is Frida Kahlo: despite life putting her through a lot of hardship, she kept herself strong and beautiful and became an accomplished artist despite her husband being very famous and obscuring her at the beginning. But now that I met you I feel there is another woman that inspires me to be hot, smart and pleasuring myself as a first priority. Thanks a lot

Extraordinary post. I honor so many women, older and younger…as one of the first women in schools that are still “bastions of male learning”, I learned first hand the importance of sticking together and never giving up the fight. Today I honor my college room-mate who brought you to me!

I admire Jane Goodall for the way she has lived her life and everything she has taught us. She is one of the women featured in a favorite book: “Women of Discovery.” The book talks about women who have explored the world during the last 2000 years. Every once in awhile, I look through it to remind me of what is possible.

Becoming conscious of the women “on whose shoulders we stand” will require deprogramming! We have been taught to believe that the body is of no importance, and that it must be managed rather than cherished. I believe our breasts – and the PUSSY – can align us with the divine; with our own divine will… Our own divine Felina!

After I watched Rep. Jim Jordan rudely attacking Cecile Richards a few weeks ago, I sent in a $50 donation to Planned Parenthood in honor of her grace and courage under pressure. I also emailed Rep. Jordan to let him know.

I did not know Cecile is the daughter of Ann Richards. NO WONDER.

Planned Parenthood kept me from becoming a pregnant teenager. Thirty years later, Planned Parenthood helped me cope with a medical crisis when I was uninsured. I have never had an abortion, due in large part to Planned Parenthood.

The attacks on Planned Parenthood are not about abortion. They are about controlling women. These backwards, patriarchal men and women would like to return us to the time when birth control was illegal and false morality kept women in their place.

Dear Nana Gena, I feel like Planned Parenthood could do themselves a huge favor by shuffling up their marketing strategy to promote the good & much needed work of Women’s overall Healthcare at accessible cost.https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/womens-health This link is buried deep in their web pages, well below their menu of birth control options. And far from where they begin their promotional dialogue. Sure, birth control is an access point for many women. But the general public does not percieve Planned Parenthood as a resource to teach women how to take care of their bodies well before they get pregnant or contract VD’s. As a young women they saved my life. I value their full range of services. I pray they can see and sell the education they truly offer. After all, who else is doing it? Parents? Schools? Barely. This post is a huge reminder of how we sometimes make our own bed. Is it possible for Cecile Richards and the organization to quit pushing the hot buttons? Its time for fresh linens Planned Parenthood! Thank you kindly for this important reminder, Leah P. S. Love The Dinner Party. My mom took me what is was a new installation at Chicago’s MCA & I was quite young. So fabulous that it lives where people like you are still able to experience its power.

Yes I was just like all of you and thought Planned Parenthood provided medical attention to woman in need as they constantly promote that. I am homeless and 54 years old I haven’t had a breast exam in years. I walked into Planned Parenthood and asked if they could do a breast exam on me. I Let them know my situation and I was floored when I was told I was too old . I was over the age of free breast exams / mammograms but they will be refer me to a clinic that would charge me but give me a discount. At first I thought the girl had made a mistake because my friend who is 56 just got diagnosed with breast cancer. Again she said she could refer me to another clinic and they would probably give me a discount. I was floored I will never ever ever believe anything they say about providing services to all women. I challenge every single woman who supports Planned Parenthood like I did to call Planned Parenthood say you’re 54 in need of a breast exam because you haven’t had one in years let them know your friend at 56 years old was just diagnosed with breast cancer. See how it feels to be turned away from organization that you supported that promoted that they would provide women’s healthcare. Planned Parenthood is a fraud they don’t do what they say they’re going to do and they’re getting funding for it. I no longer have anything to do with those people .Mama Gena your organization should have done the research before supporting Planned Parenthood. Again I challenge all the people on this blog to walk in or call in and ask Planned Parenthood would give a woman at 54 years of age a free breast exam. Mama Gena will you still support Planned Parenthood knowing that they turned away your goddesses because she was too old. How can I support mama Gena when she knows her goddesses are being turned away!

Hannah ,I thought you should know that I am NOT the only goddess who experience the denile of a breast exam by Planned Parenthood because I was over 54 years of age. Your response to me doesn’t even make sense if you’re supporting me and you want to make sure that I have the resources then you need to ask Planned Parenthood to provide them but according to them they already are which is a flat out lie. I ask every woman on this blog including you Hannah to call them up and tell him you’re over 54 years of age and ask for a breast exam and you will see you for yourself they WILL deny you the resources that they say they give to every woman. Please stop sugar coating. Your goddess is telling you that they are lying and you can verify it yourself just pick up the phone and call any Planned Parenthood in any state until you’re over the age of 54 and listen to them deny you a breast exam. Your staff should have really done their research before backing a group like this. I was fooled too I supported them once too but when they denied me a breast exam that was it ! I no longer supported a group that denies women especially women without resources and in need a breast exam. I experience that denial of services by Planned Parenthood and I’m going to tell you it was a slap in my face after donating and supporting them for years when i had the mone. but yet when I needed help they told me I was too old . Please don’t respond to me until after you call Planned Parenthood and verify what I say is true because when you respond to me by sugar coating it makes me feel like I am being slapped on the face again. I’m looking forward to your response after you call Planned Parenthood

Thank you for this call to action, call to women, to our her-story , to our divinity, beauty and sisterhood. I celebrate the women in my family who always taught me to love each other, our divine feminine, to birth and live with power, pleasure and love . I thank all my birth Sis-Stars who together lift each other and every MotherBaby of the world higher as we stand for women’s rights and freedoms in birth and life. I thank you Mama Gena, Dr. Northrup and the other pleasure pioneers for leading us deeper into our pleasures and sacred sexuality at every stage of our life. Thank you for speaking up and inspiring us all to shine a light for humanity to do better and speak up.

Many strong women have deeply touched my life and changed it for the better. My Granny birthed and raised 8 children without support from her husband and with very little money in the woods of West Virginia. She has a fierce spirit and a heart of gold. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her, as she helped raise me too.

Hearing about the struggles that Planned Parenthood are facing over here in the UK is both shocking and extremely disheartening / disturbing. It’s hard to put into words. What is happening to us, in this day and age!!! Many women have inspired me, many of my women patients from all over the world who have suffered violence and sexual violence – not always at the hands of men – but have been able to move forward, every time with dignity. I am also inspired by Jungian analyst and author Marion Woodman who writes from her soul about us women reclaiming the inner goddess. She writes about how we must nourish ourselves spiritually, reconnecting with our feminine creativity, rather than being caught up the goal-driven, results-driven perfectionist patriarchy that is still our society. It’s about learning how to BE with ourselves and becoming whole again. Only then can we stop attacking each other and stop perpetuating the attack against the feminine. This process is not only for the benefit of individual women, but our society is crying out for this. To all women out there – much love to you <3

I actually just picked Planned Parenthood to be my regular GYN office – I’m 47, done having kids, and have a wonderful husband, but they take my health insurance, and I’m happy to support the organization now, because they’ve been there for me, and for all of us, my whole life. When I was a young Catholic girl and couldn’t even get educated? They were there. When I needed to explain to my daughter about her changing body when she was 11? these days they have great videos and resources for teens available online! Anyone who has an agenda against PP is trying to take our power away from us, to keep us down, it’s that simple.

Oooooh—that’s a VERY GOOD IDEA!!!!! Thank you Liz! In reading Mama Gena’s post I was totally agreeing with her and simultaneously thinking: and so what do we do? THIS is something we can do, and I especially like the idea of middle-aged women (referencing myself at 56) flocking to PP (after all, we’re in the “take no prisoners” stage of life where we don’t want to put up with any bullshit! And these recent attacks on PP are so, so much bullshit.). In this way we create a reframe of the role of PP, or, put more accurately, pull the rug out from under the folks who are reframing the role of PP in the US and align the image with the reality: PP provides much-needed health services for women of ALL ages. Let’s support PP not just with rhetoric but with our behavior and our pocketbooks. What a wonderful message this would send: at our age we have the means to select among several good choices and we’re choosing PP.

So many women inspire me — those in the limelight & those whose paths I cross daily, at the busstop, cleaning the bathrooms at my work place, a connection with another mama or someone who just chose to share her light with me. One woman who stands out is Jane Goodall, we share a similar love & concern for the earth. I am always deeply touched by her gentle humor and delivery of her message, & inspired by her tenacity. Recently she shared on her mom’s pivotal role in the development in her path as a scientist, then activist. I can’t remember where else I heard someone talking about Mama Love, maybe here, but I see Jane Goodall as someone who embodies motherly love & shares it in a way that is hugely powerful toward healing our planet. She inspires me, gently, to be that which I already am, but may not yet fully realize & to use it to transform our world.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on what’s been bothering me about all of these old ways of thinking resurfacing in the spotlight, but you nailed it.

We only band together as women when we feel the fear, and we don’t have the wealth of knowledge and experience from our ancestors to rely upon… let’s roll together for the good of all women on this planet, which is to say – the good of all human beings, too. Because after all, we are the mothers, the sisters, the grandmothers, the wives, and the ones who make this world a delight to live in.

This is the first time I’ve ever cried reading a blog post. Thank you. The person who inspires me most right now is my 13-year-old daughter. She has unleashed joy, confidence and spirit. She radiates light. I know my only job with her is to guide her through this part of her life with her spirit as whole and intact as possible. For her to believe she can do anything, is everything and is a complete being, capable of greatness. Reading things like this inspire me to do more and be more for myself, my daughter, my mother (who committed suicide) and all other women to realize our radiance. To know the Goddess inside and believe in her glory. Thank You Mama, for the reminder. Just gorgeous. So much love to you.

I’m celebrating YOU! And posts like this that fuel me when in my own life I feel the disrespect and disregard of the feminine as anything less than Sacred. Your fierce stand reminds me to keep my head high, , heart open, feet ground and even more focused in who I am and what I stand for (and for whom). I’m celebrating the sisterhood you envisioned and create and is thriving out there in the world that makes my life richer, more fun and more meaningful. Thank you!

Planned Parenthood was a life saver for many of my young 13 year old friends. Their parents were Catholic and literally would have killed these girls who were seeking medical care! Some of my junior high and high school girls were pressured by boyfriends to perform sexually at a young age and contracted a disease. Planned Parenthood saved many of my friend’s lives. Go Planned Parenthood!